


Back to the Miraculous Future: Part One

by MerakiMela



Series: Back to the Miraculous Future Series [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, Identity Reveal, Marinette and Adrien's future child is a disaster, Secret Identity, Time Travel, sex gets mentioned but not shown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-07-18 22:35:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16128164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerakiMela/pseuds/MerakiMela
Summary: Emelie Dupain-Cheng is a normal girl with a normal life, or so she thought. Normal girls don't accidentally travel through time, and normal lives don't involve trying to avoid wiping out your own existence. She needs help with preventing her parents from knowing she's their future daughter, so who better to go to for help than Ladybug and Chat Noir?





	1. Meet the Parents

To most Parisians, it was a normal, pleasant early April day. The not too warm weather had lured those not working that day out into the sun, and most citizens silently agreed that today would be a good day, except for one Emelie Dupain-Cheng. Why? One could assume because a moment ago, she was running late for class, and now she was on her back blinking painfully at the sun with no memory of having passed out.

“Are you okay Mademoiselle?” Croaked the voice of an old man who was one of the few people hovering over her. The small crowd stepped back as she sat up. She didn’t have time to know if she was okay.

“I’m going to be late!” She exclaimed, clambering to her feet and breaking into a sprint towards the school. When she made it to the steps leading to the entrance, her awkwardly long legs allowed her to skip several steps at a time. As she flew up the stairs and through the doors, she received many odd stares for her behaviour from the many students milling about. At this point, she was used to it. Not many other girls in her grade were as tall as she was, so she stuck out a lot more than she liked. After a moment of automatically dismissing the stares, she realised something.

_I’m super late for class; everyone else should already be in the classrooms…why are there so many people around?_

“Don’t worry, lunch isn’t over yet. You still have time.” Lunch? She was a lot later than she originally thought. She whipped around to find the source of the voice. A tall, athletically built Asian boy stood on the stairs leading to the classrooms with a small, charismatic dark skinned boy. The fond look on their faces shifted into surprise as they looked at her.

“Oh, sorry. Thought you were someone else.” The taller boy mumbled. Emelie shrugged.

“Still useful information. Thanks, uh…”

“Kim. So what’s the deal, you a transfer student or something? I haven’t seen you around but you look our age.” Kim probed in a friendly tone. The boy beside him chuckled.

“With your memory span, she could have been in our grade all year and you wouldn’t remember.” He teased, elbowing the taller boy, who scoffed in response.

“Do you remember her, Max?” Kim asked, his tone shifting to irritation.

“No, you’re probably right about her being a transfer student. You’re just too easy to tease.” Max replied in a matter of fact way, hiding a smirk.

“…And people say _I’m_ the bully.” Kim quipped back. Emelie would usually be quite amused with watching people banter, but what she had learnt from the conversation brought up too many concerns. These boys looked her age, but not only did she have no clue who they were, but they didn’t recognise her either. In her experience, even if she didn’t know someone at school, they knew who she was either because of how much she stood out, or because of her parents. Something was definitely wrong. Not bothering to excuse herself from the conversation, she walked away from the boys and walked around the courtyard, looking for at least one of her friends. The longer it took to find one face she recognised, the more the anxiety built up in her chest. She backed into a corner, eyes darting manically over unfamiliar faces. Unable to take the stress, she slid down the wall and covered her face with her arms as she began cry.

* * *

 

“Dude! Are you listening to anything I’m saying?” Nino whined, shoving his blond friend on the shoulder to get his attention. Adrien shook his head as his focus returned.

“Sorry, Nino. I was distracted by the crying.” He apologised, adjusting his pace up the stairs into the school to stay level with his friend.

“What crying?” Nino asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“Can you not hear it? It sounds really close.” Adrien commented, looking around for the source.

“’Dude, you’re losing it. I can’t hear a thing and we both know I have very skilled ears.” Nino said with a dismissive chuckle. Adrien smiled back, but inside he was worried. He could definitely hear sobbing of some kind, but if Nino didn’t hear it, did that mean he was having auditory hallucinations? Before he could think about it any further, they entered the doorway leading into the school courtyard. The two boys glanced around, hoping to spot their friends Marinette and Alya before heading back to class together. The midnight hair caught in Adrien’s peripheral vision drew his attention to the corner of the room. Huddled on the floor with arms and knees covering her face, was a girl who was sobbing gently.

“Uh, Nino…” Adrien spoke softly, as to only get the attention of his friend, and nobody around them.  Nino turned to look at him expectantly, before shifting his gaze to where his friend was staring.

“Wow, dude. Looks like you’re not crazy. Is that Marinette?” Nino whispered. Adrien shook his head.

“No. Marinette was wearing a blazer and capris, not overalls, and had her hair in low pigtails, not high buns.” Adrien explained. Nino laughed.

“Do you usually catalogue what Marinette is wearing?” Nino teased. Adrien rolled his eyes.

“How do you not remember what someone is wearing after looking directly at them?” Adrien questioned, the sass he usually pushed down to maintain image bubbling up.

“Mme Bustier says I’m ‘not a visual learner’.” Nino replied, matching Adrien’s tone and winning a small laugh from the young model. Adrien glanced from his friend back to the crying girl.

“I’m going to go talk to her. Make sure she’s alright.” Adrien stated. After a nod of acknowledgment from his friend, he made his way to the corner where the girl was currently sobbing. Getting a closer look at the girl, he really wasn’t surprised that Nino mistook her for Marinette. Her midnight hair had the same notes of blue rippling through it as the light bounced off of it, and she dressed in the same cute style that Marinette would choose. The pink, loose, off the shoulder crop paired sweetly with the blue denim overalls, but now was not the time for Adrien to be assessing her choice of clothes.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” Adrien asked gently, getting close enough for her to hear him at a soft volume, but not too close as to crowd her.

“It’s horrible, dad! I can’t recognise anyone! What happened to my friends? I’m so confused.” The girl exclaimed what would have been loudly if it weren’t for the fact that she was talking into her arms and legs, effectively muffling the sound.

_Dad? Why would she think I’m her dad? Where does she think she is?_

“What’s your name? Maybe I can help you.” Adrien offered, deciding not to draw attention to what she had said in case it would embarrass her. This caused the girl to look up at him finally, and Adrien was suddenly thrown by her vivid green eyes that looked so much like his mother’s. Her expression shifted rapidly from recognition to surprise, then to confusion, then to realisation.

“Da – I mean, Dadrien –I mean, Adrien?” She stuttered awkwardly. The more this girl talked, the more she reminded Adrien of Marinette. Maybe they were related?

“Yeah, I’m Adrien. Have we met before? You seem very familiar…” He asked, taking a cautious step towards her.

“Nonononononono…this can’t be happening.” The girl muttered to herself, pushing herself up off the ground. Adrien reached for her, but she dodged away from him before walking briskly away from him.

_What was that about?_

* * *

 

Marinette gave a victorious stretch as she exited the library. Her and Alya had spent their lunch break finishing a modern history assignment that neither of them were going to have time to do within the next couple of days before it was due. Not being very good at the subject made it all the more satisfying to have done it with such efficiency.

“Alya and Marinette one, the past zero!” Alya cheered as she strode alongside her best friend. Marinette giggled, enjoying her rambunctious friend. Patrol was going to be so much easier now she didn’t have to worry about running out of time for her homework. She had a tendency to slip when she was distracted, which was something to be avoided when traversing the rooftops of Paris.

“I can’t wait to rub it in Nino’s face that I’ve already finished it. He’s going to beg me to help him, I know it.” Alya commented with a devious grin. Marinette offered a knowing smile in return. She knew that Alya often used teasing to cover up how fond she was of her boyfriend. No amount of jealously could stop Marinette from loving their adorable relationship.

“Maybe you could offer to help Adrien with his assignment. It’s perfect opportunity to show off how smart you are!” Alya suggested, elbowing Marinette playfully as they made it to the bottom of the stairs.

“But Adrien is also really smart, there’s no way he’d need help.” Marinette argued. This didn’t wipe the grin off of Alya’s face.

“Which is why it will be really obvious that he wants to spend time with you when he accepts your offer!” Alya replied enthusiastically. Marinette rolled her eyes fondly. Alya's latest tactic for Marinette to win over Adrien was a "fake it 'til you make it" attitude, suggesting that if they pretend he already likes her it'll give her confidence. It was not working so far.

“Come on, I see the boys. Let’s go humble brag.” Alya said, looping their arms together and pulling Marinette towards the school entrance. She looked forward to see Adrien walking away from Nino. In a few moments they arrived at their destination, Alya removing her arm from Marinette to grab Nino by the shoulders and pull him down for a kiss. No matter how many times they kissed, Nino always flushed brightly when it happened and grinned goofily once it was over.

“Hey Dork 1, where’s Dork 2?” Alya quipped. Not losing his grin after the nickname, Nino tilted his head to the side in a gesturing way.

“Over there checking on some girl.” He answered, not taking his eyes off of Alya.

“Checking out a girl?!” Marinette cried out, a bit too loudly. This snapped Nino out of his daze.

“What? No, he’s checking to see if she’s okay. She’s crying in the corner.” He clarified. Marinette visibly relaxed, now that she knew Adrien wasn’t checking out some other girl. Knowing that he was being kind and checking on the welfare of others made her sigh dreamily as she glanced in the direction Nino had indicated. The girl was getting up of the ground, her eyes wide as she stared at Adrien. She saw Adrien reach for her, but the girl flinched away from the contact with amazingly quick reflexes. It was quite jarring to watch someone have a negative reaction to Adrien, to the point where Marinette didn’t notice the girl was striding right towards her, facing downwards with no idea she was about to walk into anyone. The collision made both girls snap out of their inattentive hazes.

“Sorry!” The girl yelped, stepping back and looking up. Now that she was completely paying attention, it was hard for Marinette to not notice the panic that spread across this girl’s face.

“Maman? I mean –Mamanette? I mean –ugh! Again? Really?” The girl growled as she berated herself. Before Marinette could reassure her that it was fine, the girl was out the front door.

“Wait!” Marinette whipped her head to the side to see Adrien running after the girl. Just as Marinette found herself tempted to do the same thing, the chatter of the school courtyard was overtaken by the screams coming from outside the school. Marinette glanced back at her friends to see a wild grin on Alya’s face.

“Akuma attack.” The young reporter stated, her excitement barely contained. Whatever was going on with that girl was going to have to wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading chapter one! I have the story plot outlined, so hopefully that will help me update frequently for those who are interested in chapter 2!
> 
> Feedback is greatly appreciated if you're happy to leave a comment. My motivation is very fluid, so you might be surprised how much saying what you liked or what you felt needed improving can help me get my act together.


	2. Ich bin ein Berliner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emelie becomes caught in the middle of an akuma fight, the last thing she ever expected to happen. Will she make it out, or is she toast?

As she rushed outside, Emelie was basically praying that what she thought was happening was actually not happening.

_I didn’t actually travel back in time, my parents just magically grew young again and were hanging around at my school to prank me. Yeah, that makes more sense than time travel._

She could hear her father calling out to her, so she picked up her pace. She didn’t want him to go and prove her theory wrong or anything. Emelie had made it to the bottom of the stairs when she noticed the screaming coming from the streets. Taking in her surroundings, she saw several people running away from a intimidatingly large man who appeared to be made out of raw dough. The man laughed ominously as he threw balls of dough at various people. Emelie winced as one woman fell to the ground as she got hit. The dough that hit her grew and spread over her until she was completely enveloped. The dough-covered man pointed an arm toward the fallen, captured woman.

“ _Rise!_ ” The man commanded. Before Emelie’s eyes, the blob of dough that had cocooned the woman shifted as it floated into the air. In a moment it took the ridiculous form of a giant berliner donut that had arms and legs and began chasing the closest people who were on the street.

“Now, my baked goods, bring me das Miraculous of der Marienkäfer und die Schwarze Katze!” The doughy man bellowed. Emelie groaned. This man was clearly an akuma victim, and that meant she was undeniably in the past.

“It’s not safe here; we’ve got to get under cover.” She didn’t need to turn around to recognise Adrien’s voice. She knew he was right about needing to find cover, but wasn’t interacting with her father in the past also dangerous? In a panic decision, Emelie bolted towards a nearby building, hoping she could lose Adrien in the crowd.

“Hey!” He called out, his tone riddled with confusion and irritation. In front of her, a large lump of dough splattered over the people who had been there, blocking her path. She quickly pivoted and continued in the opposite direction, managing to slam herself into the person who was behind her. They were around the same height, so they ended up headbutting and recoiling off each other. It didn’t take long for her to realise who she had run into.

“Why are you running away from me? I’m trying to help!” Adrien complained, attempting to soothe the damage of the collision by rubbing the side of his head. Before she had time to come up with some sort of lie, there was a loud gasp behind her.

“Do meine eyes deceive me? I can feel that this girl has a magical aura about her. Have I found Ladybug demasked?” The akuma victim questioned loudly. The look of confusion on Adrien’s face read like he was making a thousand calculations a minute as he assessed Emelie. He didn’t seem to think she was Ladybug, but he did seem to think something was up. She turned to face the akuma victim.

“How pointless would it be to try to convince you I’m not Ladybug?” She asked with a groan.

“Schergen! Search her for a Miraculous!” He screamed. Within moments, Emelie and Adrien were surrounded by human-sized baked goods that looked ready for a fight. As some sort of bread roll launched itself at her, it was intercepted by Adrien, who proceeded to use it’s momentum to lift it off the ground and throw it at a soft pretzel. Adrien grabbed Emelie and directed her behind him and backed them both towards the new gap in the circle.

“Stay behind me; I’ll protect you.” Adrien said in a commanding voice. Emelie was used to hearing this tone from her dad, but it was utterly bizarre hearing it come out of this child version of him. Shaking herself out of it just in time, she noticed another bread roll sneaking toward Adrien from the side. She snapped into action, stepping forward and slamming down onto the minion with a powerful axe kick. Glancing back at Adrien, she laughed at the stunned expression on his face.

“What? I’m not defenceless; my dad taught me how to fight.” As she commented, she fought back the urge to give a knowing wink. No need to make him think too hard about that. A wild smirk washed over Adrien’s face.

“Oh yeah? Well, my father taught me not to let anyone out-do me.” He snarked, before spinning himself to perform a reverse roundhouse kick at the nearest pastry. Unfortunately for him, that was a pudding pretzel and his foot was thoroughly stuck in in its goo.

“I have a feeling one day you’re going to be teaching your kids not to try and show off.” Emelie quipped, disregarding the thought that this was an inappropriate time to make foreshadowing jokes.

“Enough! Take out this defender for good and capture das Mädchen!” The akuma victim ordered.

“Don’t you dare hurt that boy!” Boomed a voice from further down the street. Everyone turned to see a fairly large, moustached man wearing a flour coated apron holding an intimating pose. Emelie gasped as she recognised him as her grandfather.

“Ha! So that is your bakery, Thomas Dupain! Once I had the Miraculous for Hawkmoth, I was going to find you and punish you for taking my Nummer Eins ranking. Sehr kind of you to save me the trouble.” The akuma victim bantered. Thomas huffed and stood his ground.

“I’m right here. Just let the kids go and we can settle this, man to man.” He growled, appearing to attempt to avoid making it sound like a plea. The akuma victim laughed in a villainous fashion.

“It appears that this boy is important to you. Perhaps I have thought of a gut punishment already!” With that statement, the akuma victim lunged toward a parked car and heaved it above his head, before launching it directly at Adrien.

“No!” Thomas shouted, collapsing to his knees in fear. Seeing how Adrien was unable to move, Emelie panicked and threw herself between Adrien and the oncoming car. Letting instinct take over, she held her hand out in front of herself. Feeling a word bursting from her subconscious, she opened her mouth to let it out.

“ _Cataclysm!_ ”

* * *

 

With Alya sprinting outside to film the attack, quickly followed by a concerned looking Nino, Marinette snuck her way over to the nearest caretaker closet, slamming the door shut behind her.

“Tikki, transfo–”

“Wait! I need to talk to you!” Tikki yelped out, interrupting her transformation phrase.

“What’s so important that it can’t wait until after an akuma fight?” Marinette questioned, anxious to get to the akuma victim before they could do too much damage.

“That girl before; she was…strange.” Tikki murmured, face scrunching up in concentration. Marinette snorted into a chuckle.

“Yeah, she was really giving me a run for my money for ‘most socially awkward girl’, wasn’t she?”

“No, not that. Marinette, do you remember that I can sense my own Miraculous energy?” Tikki asked.

“Yep. It was how we knew the me that travelled back in time was really me during the Timebreaker fight.” Marinette responded, thinking back to how weird it was to talk to herself.

“Well, I can sense my energy coming from that girl.” Tikki revealed.

“What?!” Marinette exclaimed in shock, eyes blowing wide open. Tikki gave a resigned sigh.

“I don’t know what it means, Marinette. I could sense my magic on her like it was inside her, much like how it resides within you when you are transformed, but she wasn’t transformed, so even if she somehow had another version of me it still doesn’t make any sense.” Tikki ranted, her confusion and concern written all over her face. Marinette frowned. It wasn’t often that her Kwami lost her nerves, so it was always troubling whenever it happened.

“Don’t worry, Tikki. As soon as I’m done with this akuma, I’ll get to the bottom of this mystery.” Marinette reassured, brushing the back of her hand over the little Kwami’s cheek. Tikki looked up at Marinette with a soft smile and a hopeful look in her eyes, before giving a confident nod.

“Tikki, Spots On!”

Once transformed, Ladybug snuck out of the closet and sprinted back outside. Looking out past Alya with her phone, she found the girl from earlier kicking away absurd looking giant, sentient pastries as she struggled to pull Adrien free from a pudding pretzel. Not needing more inspiration for action, Ladybug flung her yo-yo around the bread part of the pudding pretzel and yoinked the string back. The force released Adrien’s foot, the mysterious girl yelping as she struggled to not fall over from the weight of him. Once he was stable, Adrien looked up at Ladybug, her heart stopping as she took in his expression of enamoured awe. Their moment was interrupted by a loud grunt.

“Ah, so this girl is not Ladybug. In any case, I can still take you on Marienkäfer, even if you are transformed!” Ladybug looked up to see the voice had come from the akuma victim.

“Huh?” She squeaked out in confusion.

_Had he been talking about fighting me while I wasn’t transformed? Does he know who I am? He did call me something that sound too close to my name for comfort…_

“Marienkäfer is German for ladybug. His whole thing is being a German baker. I think he’s mad because my best friend’s dad beat him in some public poll ranking bakeries in Paris. Also you missed something amazing! This girl…” Alya informed quickly. Ladybug was vaguely aware that she had continued talking, but her attention was focused entirely on her father kneeling on the ground, facing down with his hands scrunched up over his ears. It broke her heart seeing him look so shattered.

“Everyone! Get inside now!” Ladybug commanded, eyes not leaving her father. At the sound of her voice, his head jolted up. She noticed his eyes fell on Adrien, and a look of overwhelming relief washed over his face. Satisfied that he was getting up to go hide, Ladybug leapt down the stairs and paced toward the akuma victim, spinning her yo-yo at her side.

“I feel…dizzy.” Ladybug heard the mysterious girl mumble. In her peripheral vision she saw Adrien scoop her up and run up the stairs into the school with what looked like a bewildered expression. Feeling relieved that Adrien was safe inside, Ladybug found herself able to focus entirely on the akuma victim, who was discussing something with Hawkmoth at a volume too low for her to hear.

“Hey Crumb-head! You want to do this the easy way, or the hard way?” Ladybug called out, snapping the akuma victim’s focus back to the fight.

“Meine name is not Crumb-head, it’s Sourdough! If you want this to be easy, you will give me your Miraculous!” Sourdough demanded. Ladybug scoffed.

“Yeah, not gonna happen.” She responded, bracing herself in a battle-ready pose.

“Angreifen, meine schergen!” Sourdough screeched. All the surrounding pastry minions, including the ones who had previously knocked down, closed in around Ladybug in a way she would have found menacing if it weren’t for how silly they looked. She dropped down low and swung her yo-yo around her, sweeping the minions off their feet.

“You’re going to have to do better tha – ”

“Ladybug, look out!” The aforementioned Ladybug found herself being tackled sideways, narrowly avoiding being hit with a stream of raw dough. She didn’t need to see the black suit to know who had saved her.

“ _Gluten_ tag, M’Lady. You bready to win this?” Chat Noir joked as he helped her to her feet. Ladybug rolled her eyes, forcing herself not to smile. That would only encourage him.

“I swear sometimes it feels like you pre-plan these puns.” She groaned, shifting back into a battle stance.

“I unfortunately don’t have the time. But when there is an opportunity to make a _bun_ , I always _rise_ to the occasion.” This won another groan.

“Stop it, Chaton.”

“But M’Lady, it’s really hard to stop. Especially when I’m – ”

“Please don’t.”

“ – on a _roll_.” He finished with a smirk.

“Can you please just focus on the akuma?” She pleaded, finding it hard to stay mad at his proud smile. He looked away from her and his expression dropped.

“Speaking of which, where did he go?” Chat Noir asked, playful tone now replaced with a concerned one.

“He went inside!” Alya called out from the top of the stairs. Ladybug let out yet another groan.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” She whined, breaking into a sprint up the stairs towards the school entrance.

“I did, you just couldn’t hear me over your banter.” The young reporter revealed, the playfulness in her voice showing that she was somehow enjoying this. Ladybug and Chat Noir ran into the courtyard to find it deserted, most students and teachers having retreated into classrooms. Suddenly, the doors to the library burst open with Sourdough barrelling through them, slamming the mysterious girl into the railing.

“Wo ist the pretty boy?” He interrogated.

“You ask that like I’d ever tell you.” The girl scoffed, voice breathy from having the wind knocked out of her. Sourdough growled.

“Fine, have it your way. I’ll have to make do und use you as my hostage.” Sourdough declared, before wrapping a thick, doughy arm around her waist and clambering his way out the top of the building, leaving a trail of debris and dough in his path.

“No!” Chat Noir cried out, quickly vaulting after them. Despite how weary Ladybug was of this girl, she couldn’t help but share in Chat Noir’s despair for her safety. Ladybug launched herself in the direction the akuma victim went in, trying to figure out what the deep pit in her stomach meant. She had felt it a few times; when Alya was in danger from Stoneheart, and any time Chat Noir or Adrien’s lives were in peril. As she caught up with her partner in the chase, one thing was clear; this girl was important, but she’d never find out why if they don’t save her.

* * *

 

As Chat Noir frantically vaulted over the rooftops of Paris, hot on the trail of Sourdough, his mind was also racing. Who was this girl who one minute couldn’t get away from him fast enough and the next fighting by his side making familiar banter? Better question yet, how in the world did she use Cataclysm? There was no denying he had some sort of connection to this girl, and it was telling him not to let her get hurt. As if reacting to his thoughts, Sourdough skidded to a halt on the roof of a fairly tall business building. Before Chat Noir or Ladybug could react, he held the girl around the neck and swung his arm out, dangling her over the edge. Chat Noir froze, his stomach dropping so fast he thought he might throw up.

“Hand over your Miraculous’ or I will drop this Madchën to her death!” Sourdough demanded menacingly. A moment later, the outline of a butterfly appeared in front of Sourdough’s face.

“What do you mean? You told me to get the Miraculous for you by any means…” He argued, focus shifting off of Chat Noir and Ladybug entirely. Chat Noir knew that this could be their only chance to come up with a plan. Before he could say anything to Ladybug to prompt her, he heard her take in a shallow, nervous breath.

“ _Lucky Charm!_ ” She whispered, the nerves and urgency clear in her voice. A moment later, an unlit torch landed in her hands and she was looking around the roof for something to use it with. Chat Noir grew nervous as her face didn’t light up the way it usually did when she had a plan.

“Psst! Ladybug!” The mysterious girl whispered as quietly as possible while still being audible. Chat Noir turned to her, to see her pulling down on the hand gripping at her throat, allowing herself to breath and talk.

“You should be careful. That type of cooling system behind you has been known to combust when the vents get clogged.” She warned, an intense look forming in her eyes as if she were willing them to say something different to what her mouth was saying. Chat Noir looked back towards Ladybug and was surprised to see her familiar expression of a plan forming in her mind. A sensation of jealousy stung for a moment over how easily this girl could communicate with his lady, but he quickly shook it off to focus on whatever they had planned.

“Chat Noir, while I distract him, you sneak around and get ready to catch the girl.” Ladybug ordered under her breath. He fought back a groan. He absolutely hated whenever she was the distraction. It was the most dangerous part to play in their plans, as it drew the most fire from akumas. With a sigh, he nodded to confirm the plan. He didn’t like it, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have complete faith in her.

“Hey _dich_! I’m not going to give my Miraculous up for any hostage! You’d have to catch me before you could get your lumpy hands on my earrings!” Ladybug proclaimed loudly, snapping Sourdough out of his conversation with Hawkmoth. Chat Noir slunk to the side of the roof, trying his best not to react to Ladybug’s word play. Now he kind of understood why Ladybug was always getting annoyed at him for goofing off at inopportune moments; it was very distracting. Sourdough roared with anger, staring down Ladybug as she posed confidently, taking no notice of Chat Noir as he dropped and clung to the side of the building.

“It will nicht be hard to catch you if you are stuck!” He growled, revving his free hand back and pitching it forward, firing a large ball of dough straight at Ladybug. At the last second, she leapt up into a jack, legs splitting over the dough as it flew under her. She landed in time with the wet thud of the dough hitting the cooling system vents. A moment later, a vicious whirring sound sputtered from the metal box, shortly followed by smoke. Chat Noir supressed an exclamation of comprehension as he finally understood the plan.  He had just shuffled his way around the corner of the building, so it would be poor form to ruin the plan when they were so close. Sourdough continued to take shots at Ladybug as she flipped around, unaware of the lack of Chat Noir, or the smoke slowly expanding over the roof. Suddenly, the cooling system burst into flames, spitting out chunks of charcoal dough. As spryly as ever, Ladybug leapt toward the flame, reaching into it with the torch until it had lit. She readied the torch as if it were a javelin, aiming it toward Sourdough.

“You’re overdone, Sourdough!” She exclaimed, voice rich with confidence of victory.

“I’ll kill her if you try that, Marienkäfer. You wouldn’t risk the life of an innocent, would you?” Sourdough threatened, shifting his grip on the girl’s throat.

“Do your _wurst_ , dough boy.” The girl grunted, giving him a sharp kick to his side. With an angry growl, Sourdough releasing his grip on her, dropping her over the edge. Chat Noir sprung off the side of the building towards the girl, catching her with one arm as the other slammed his staff into the side of the building. The girl clung around his neck, bringing her legs up to hug around his waist like a koala, allowing him free use of both arms to pull their weight up onto the staff. Above them, Chat Noir could hear Sourdough screaming furiously. Being unable to see what has happened, Chat Noir could only assume that Ladybug had landed the torch on him. Not seeing a safe place to put the girl down, he shifted her onto his back and quickly scaled back up the building. Climbing over the edge and back onto the roof, Chat Noir found Sourdough stuck in a twisted pose as the dough that coated him baked and charcoaled, with a confused Ladybug circling him.

“Good work, M’Lady! This guy is _toast_!” Chat Noir cheered with a grin. Ladybug shook her hand, dismissing him.

“Not now, kitty. I can’t find the akumatized item. I thought it might be the dough itself but…well, clearly it’s not.” Ladybug thought out loud with a groan. Chat Noir placed the girl gently on the ground, patting her comfortingly on the shoulder before joining Ladybug at her side.

“Then it’s got to be something he’s wearing underneath the dough. Every time he shot out dough it came from his right hand, so maybe it’s some sort of glove?” He offered, reaching toward Sourdough’s outstretched arm. Even though the flames were petering out, he was still cautious with touching the still hot surface. As if ripping off a band-aid, he quickly gripped around the bread-coated hand and pulled back, taking with him the outer layer and revealing a normal sized hand underneath. Peeking inside the dough, he could clearly see a dark purple oven mitt. He looked back at Ladybug, letting a grin spread over his face as he showed her his success. He was more than delighted to see her grin back.

“I knew you were more than a pretty face, Chaton.” She complimented playfully, taking the mitt out of his hands and ripping it as if it were made of paper. A second later, a dark purple butterfly fluttered out where the mitt had been ripped.

“No more evil-doing for you, little akuma.” Ladybug stated, prepping her yo-yo to capture the akuma.

“Time to de-evilise!” She exclaimed, launching the yo-yo at her target, which was immediately caught as the yo-yo closed around it.

“Gotcha!” She smirked as she pulled the yo-yo back to herself. Pressing a button, the yo-yo opened and a white butterfly popped out and flew away.

“Goodbye, little butterfly!” She farewelled sweetly. She bent down to retrieve the torch, holding it steady before flinging it up into the sky.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” She cried out victoriously, causing the torch to burst into a glowing swarm of ladybugs that began radiating out towards everything that was damaged in the fight. The cooling system repaired itself, and the akumatised victim transformed back into a regular man, who seemed extremely confused about why he was on a roof. Not one for chatter, the man nodded at Ladybug and Chat Noir before pacing his way over to the fire escape and shutting the door behind himself.

“Wow!” Chat Noir spun on the spot to see the mysterious girl looking over the side of the building, watching Ladybug’s magic doing its work with a mesmerised look on her face.

“Now that you’re safe and we are alone, we need to talk.” Ladybug spoke up with a serious tone. Chat Noir glanced at Ladybug, noticing she had taken her “business” stance, legs hip-wide apart and arms crossed.

“I agree. What’s your deal, kid?” He chimed in. The girls eyes shifted between them, expression reading like she was makes a thousand calculations a minute. Eventually, she sighed in a way that told him she had resigned herself to a decision.

“Okay, I’ll tell you. It’s extremely dangerous to reveal this to anyone, but I’m going to have to tell you because I have no idea who in the world could possibly help me besides the two of you.” She spoke with shaky words. She looked nervous to go on, so Chat Noir gave her an encouraging nod. With that, she took a deep breath and steadied herself.

“My name is Emelie. I’m from the future, and I need your help to get back to my own time and to not interfere with my parents’ past any more than I already have.” Emelie revealed, body visibly tensing as she spoke. Chat Noir felt his stomach flip. He’d seen enough time travel movies to know how bad the butterfly effect can be when travelling back in time. They’d have to be extremely careful moving forward.

“Who are your parents? We need to know who to keep you away from.” He asked, keeping his exterior calm despite the anxiety bubbling below the surface.

“Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Chat Noir blinked rapidly in shock.

_What?!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading chapter two!
> 
> Apologies if there are wild mistakes in this that make it hard to read. My ADHD meds aren't working as well as they normally do so it has been extremely hard to focus while writing this chapter.
> 
> Also, I hope the British English spelling isn't too jarring for any American readers. I'm Australian so it's the version I use.


	3. A Chat With Chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emelie finds that Ladybug and Chat Noir are not quite reacting to her situation as she would have expected.

When Emelie revealed the names of her parents, the last thing she expected was for both Ladybug and Chat Noir to physically recoil. As their mouths gaped open and eyes widened, she knew something was wrong.

“Oh no, you know them already, don’t you? If you know them, then what if knowing makes you act differently around them to what you originally would have done and it changes history and I wipe myself from existence! But if I don’t exist, then I’d never go back in time and ruin the past? Ugh! I hate paradoxes!” Emelie ranted manically, grabbing at her own face from random, awkward angles. At the sound of Ladybug’s giggle, Emelie snapped her eyes up to look at her. Ladybug froze, before offering an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, Emelie. It’s just that you are so much like your mother. You both panic in the same way. Don’t you think, Chaton?” Both girls shifted their attention to Chat Noir, and both were surprised by the gloomy expression he wore.

“Chat? Is everything okay?” Ladybug asked with a gentle voice as she stepped closer to him. Emelie took in a sharp breath. Every second of him not responding added another layer of anxious guilt that she had said something to upset him. After what felt like a few minutes but was probably only a few seconds, Ladybug’s earrings gave out a little beep, snapping Chat Noir out of whatever state he was in.

“Sorry, I was just…thinking about your situation. Are we still around in the future? Me and Ladybug, that is.” He asked, expression less gloomy, but still very serious.

“Uh… I don’t think I should tell you anything about your own future.” Emelie mumbled nervously.

“Please, the answer changes what our plan will be.” Chat Noir implored.

“Plan? I thought Ladybug was the one who always came up with a plan.” Emelie thought out loud, winning a frown from the cat-themed hero.

“That’s not always the case. Besides, she seems a little preoccupied right now…” He retorted, ending with a head tilt in Ladybug’s direction. Emelie looked back over at her to see she was no longer paying attention to the conversation. If Emelie wasn’t so confused and tired, she probably would have laughed at the goofy smile she wore, as if she were thinking about a delicious cake she had waiting for her at home. Glancing back at Chat Noir, he seemed just as confused, before he shook his head, seeming to refocus himself.

“Look, you haven’t vanished from existence yet despite how much you have interfered, which means this is probably a time loop. So, whatever happens now is what was always meant to happen so you can’t mess stuff up by telling us stuff about the future because in theory the us from your time were already told that stuff.” He reassured. Emelie sighed. She still didn’t want to give away any information about anyone’s future, especially directly to them. But, if it was necessary for Chat Noir’s plan…

“Okay, fine. Yeah, both of you are still active. I’ve actually met you befo –” She revealed, before quickly being hushed.

“No, that’s all I needed to know. The plan is we wait.” He informed, quickly met with a small gasp from Ladybug, who was suddenly paying attention again.

“That’s a terrible plan, Chat. We should be trying to get her home to her parents. I can only imagine how worried they are with her gone!” Ladybug chided, which was only met with a look of feigned insult which Chat Noir seemed to be using to try to hide a smirk.

“Oh, ye of little faith! We’re still going to get her back, we’re just not going to do it for a few years. Not until the day she goes back in time, to be precise.” When that was met with only confused blinking, Chat Noir sighed.

“Okay, I’ll break it down for you. Right now, we have no clue how to get Emelie back to her own time. But, us from the future now that we know it happens have over a decade to figure something out. Then, when we realise she’s gone, we pop back ourselves and bring her home. That way we’ll know she’ll get to the right time.” He explained. Despite his confidence, Emelie dropped her head, staring at the floor.

“What if…you don’t come back for me?” She asked almost inaudibly, tears forming in her eyes as she considered the worst. In a heartbeat, she felt strong arms hug tightly around her.

“I promise I will come for you, Emelie. Nothing can stop me. We just need to wait long enough for us to realise you’re missing.” He comforted, rubbing soft circles into her back. Even though Emelie knew that because she was meant to go to a sleepover after school, it might be a day before her parents realise she’s gone, let alone Ladybug and Chat Noir, she still felt comfort from his words and his embrace. There was something so familiar from it, she couldn’t help feeling safe. It took the startling beeps from Ladybug’s earrings shocking her eyes open for her to realise she had closed them in the first place. Ladybug looked as though she were reaching for her, but now was retracting her arm. Suddenly, Emelie felt Chat Noir repel away from her with an embarrassed smile. She watched as Ladybug shook herself and steadied her posture, wondering why the two of them were acting so strangely.

“In the meantime, I think you should stay with your mother. I know it’s risky, but her and her parents are going to be the people who are going to be most willing to take you in with the least amount of questions.” Ladybug stated in a way that made Emelie feel like it would be pointless to argue.

“I’ll go recharge and talk to your grandparents and give them a fake explanation. Chat Noir, you stay with Emelie and get her there safely. Bug out!” And with that order, Ladybug leapt off the top of the building and began swinging gracefully toward the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

“Can you give me a minute before we blast off? I still feel kind of off.” Emelie asked as nervously as Chat Noir looked. It bewildered her that a superhero could look so vulnerable.

“A-actually, I was thinking we could walk there. We need to give Ladybug time to talk to M-Marinette and her parents, and I thought it would be n-nice for us to…talk?” Chat Noir stammered out, making Emelie realise that he might actually be more nervous than her, somehow.

“Sure! What do you want to talk about?” She said as sweetly as she could, doing what she could to try to make him feel more comfortable. He smiled joyfully back at her, ushering her toward the fire exit door.

“I thought talking about what you know might help you feel better. How about you tell me about your family?” He suggested, gesturing for her to make her way through the doorway as he held it open.

“I’m not sure how much I can reveal about the future…” She mumbled as she quickly walked past. She turned to look at him, but was surprised to see he wasn’t behind her.

“I’ll have you know I’m very good at keeping secrets.” Emelie yelped at the sudden voice coming from her side. Whipping her head around, she saw Chat Noir grinning mischievously with an impatient glint in his eyes. Emelie sighed as she continued her way down the stairwell, Chat Noir matching her stride as he looked at her expectantly.

“Okay. I don’t like bragging, but if I’m going to be completely honest, my family is the best.” She commented. Chat Noir stayed quiet, like he wanted her to go on.

“My parents are like this amazing power couple. I feel like they are constantly proving people wrong.”

“Like how?”

“Well, papa told me that people were always telling them that it’s impossible to run a multi-million dollar company and make time for family, but maman does it every day. Well, so does papa, but I think he was using maman as a strong female role model for the sake of his pep talk.” She explained, remembering fondly how her father had found her stressing about keeping up all the extracurricular activities she loved, and how he told her not to listen to people who tell her what she won’t be able to handle.

“Do they run Gabriel together?” The question startled her out of her memory.

“No. Well, sort of. Maman made her own fashion company and eventually bought out Grandfather’s business. Papa runs a TV production company, but I think he mostly does the creative side and has people who do the business side for him.” They made it outside as she clarified, and she wasn’t sure if it was the sunlight or the information that was making Chat Noir blink with a startled expression.

“TV?”

“He writes and hosts an educational science series. It’s super popular and really funny. Apparently he wanted to be a teacher, but maman said he was too ‘extra’ to stay in the classroom. Ooh, he also created a show about you and Ladybug! It’s about teaching kids about empathy and emotional control. It’s pretty popular too. His company makes other programs too, those are just the best ones.” She began ranting, getting caught up in her excitement over her father’s work. A low hum gets Emelie to look over at Chat and realise his expression had become thoughtful and serious.

“He sounds…busy.” He commented, eyes fogging with concern. Emelie shook her head gently.

“That’s the awesome thing about papa. He always makes time for me and To – …for us. No matter how busy he is, he always makes sure to spend at least a meal with us. Even if he’s in another country, he’ll video call in. I remember when I was little, I ran into the middle of an important meeting he had because I got hurt and this man yelled at me for interrupting. Papa fired him on the spot. He said anyone who didn’t respect his family had no place at his company. That man said he’d never make it in the industry with that attitude, but papa proved him wrong.” Emelie realised she might be a hypocrite, judging by how much she was loving a chance to brag about her father to someone who hadn’t already heard it all before. A moment of self-awareness told her that she had been talking for way too long, so she turned to Chat Noir with a grin, ready to ask him something about himself. The grin dropped immediately when she saw that he was silently crying beside her, frantically attempting to get rid of his tears.

“Chat Noir! Are you okay? Was it something I said? I’m really sorry!” She apologised with a strangled whisper. She caught eye contact with him as he glanced up and it became clear he had no intention of letting her see him like this.

“No! I mean…you don’t have to say sorry; you didn’t do anything wrong. I just…don’t have a very good relationship with my father, so – ” He spluttered out, before Emelie hushed him and grabbed him by the shoulders to turn him toward her, before pulling him into a hug not unlike the one he had given to reassure her earlier.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to explain. I feel bad, still. You did such a good job of distracting me and cheering me up, and all I’ve done to pay you back is make you cry.” She complained, winning a soft chuckle from him.

“It’s happy tears, I promise. I’m glad you have such a good life to go back to.” He reassured warmly.

“I’m not the only one with a good life in my time. You and Ladybug seem very happy together.” With that comment, she felt Chat Noir tense up beneath her arms. Before she could ask what was wrong, she felt herself being gently pushed away. With a dark, brooding look in his eyes, Chat Noir gestured to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery across the road.

“That’s it there. I’d walk you over there, but I have to go.” Without waiting for a response, he extended his staff and began vaulting away. Emelie blinked in confusion.

_That was weird…does he not like Ladybug?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry for so long between updates. I had tech week and then show week for the musical I was in, and that on its own it pretty tiring before you add in intense tap dancing into every run of the show. So yeah, no energy for writing, only cat naps. Ooh, I also got a puppy I'm going to raise to be a seeing eye dog, and she needs a lot if time and attention. 
> 
> To get updates out sooner I decided to just do a perspective each instead of one of each of the main three per chapter. 
> 
> Thanks for being patient! I'm working on the next two chapters as I post this so hopefully the next wait is a lot shorter.


	4. Like Mother, Like Daughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette's Perspective
> 
> Marinette starts her investigation into her daughter, but only seems to be learning how similar she is to herself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> proof-reading is for cowards

“He likes me!” Marinette squealed, excitedly hopping from foot to foot. She heard Tikki shushing her through a mouthful of cookie, but chose to ignore it.

“Even if he doesn’t like me _now_ , eventually he does! That’s good enough for me!” She cheered quietly to herself, accompanied by a very energetic victory dance. Tikki gulped loudly as she finished the bite in her mouth.

“Marinette, aren’t you forgetting something important? You said you would look into why she has my energy within her.” Tikki whispered, before taking another bite of the cookie that should have been too big for her tiny mouth, which Marinette recognised as a sign that Tikki was stressed.

“I thought I already did? Wouldn’t her being the daughter of Ladybug explain why she’d have your magic on her?” Tikki shook her head.

“Ladybug holders have had children in the past, but they were all completely human.” Tikki responded, answer muffled through the bite she hadn’t swallowed yet.

“If she’s from the future, won’t asking questions about the future mess it up? I don’t want to ruin my future with Adrien and destroy our daughter’s existence.” Marinette asked, panic rising in her voice.

“Chat Noir was right; if talking to you and Adrien earlier, and revealing that much information to you directly didn’t erase her, then she’s safe and this is probably a closed time loop. Trust me, Marinette. Plagg and I are a little experienced with time travel, as most people who try to combine our miraculous’ use it for time travel, so I’m good at seeing the differences. I was impressed Chat Noir knew that much on his own, though.” Tikki reassured, although the gentleness of it was lessened by her continuing to finish the cookie in the middle of her explanation. Marinette giggled.

“I guess he can be a smart cookie when he wants to be.” She quipped with a grin, eliciting a windchime-like giggle from the little red Kwami.

After a quick transformation, Ladybug swung around the corner, landing in front of her parent’s bakery. Remembering to keep up her superhero stature, she entered with confidence. Tom and Sabine were both behind the counter, looking rather tired as they dealt with the last customer. Their eyes snapped up at the peeling of the bell rigged to the door.

“Ladybug! What can we do for you today?” Sabine asked, beaming with what should have been an award winning customer service smile. The man at the register collected his change and left briskly with a couple of boxes in tow. Ladybug eyed the shelves and noted how remarkably empty they were. Noticing her line of vision, Tom laughed.

“We thought Paris being attacked by pastries would hurt our sales, but apparently being the target of a jealous akuma victim is the best marketing a business could ask for!” He explained with amusement.

“We’re happy to make fresh anything you’d like if you don’t mind waiting.” Sabine offered warmly.

“Oh, I’m actually here to ask the two of you for a fairly big favour. There’s a girl about your daughters age who has been taken here by magic, but my magic didn’t send her back home. Her parents are a bit far away and she doesn’t really have anywhere to stay for the night. I know it’s – ”

“Of course we’ll help! You do so much for us already, letting a teenage girl stay the night in our home is the least we could do. We’re flattered that you even thought of us!” Sabine cut her off enthusiastically. Ladybug flinched for a moment.

_How am I going to explain how Ladybug knew to trust them?_

“I thought it would be smarter to keep her near where she appeared. I also remembered how kind you were with helping hide that boy from Animan after seeing Mr Dupain during the fight today.”

_Nailed it!_

With the mention of the fight today, Tom reeled back with a wince.

“Whew, boy! That was a stressful one today. Not sure if my tinker could handle another scare today.” Tom admitted as he pressed a hand to his chest. As if to test his statement, there was a sudden ringing sound as the door swung open, making Tom yelp and leap back. Ladybug turned to see a very startled Emelie standing frozen in the doorway, clearly not expecting this type of welcome.

“Mr Dupain and Mme Cheng, this is Emelie, the girl I was talking about.” Ladybug introduced, gesturing towards the still frozen girl at the front of the store. Ladybug had to supress the urge to laugh at the ridiculous pose she had frozen in. The combination her own awkwardness with Adrien’s lanky frame was an unfortunate thing for their daughter to inherit. Tom gasped.

“Sabine! It’s her!” He exclaimed, beaming as he pointed at Emelie.

“I – uh, muh…ahh…” Emelie stuttered awkwardly, eyes flashing between Ladybug and Tom, who was now making his way around the register towards her.

“This is the girl who saved Adrien during the attack!” He proclaimed before swooping her up into an enveloping bear hug. Ladybug thinks back to the fight, remembering the sad state she saw her father in, and seeing Emelie fighting off those ridiculous looking pastries. It didn’t make sense to her how big his reaction was then, and now.

“You were defending him from the akuma victim’s minions, right?” She questioned, hoping it would lead to a futher explanation.

“Not just that. She saved him from being hit by a car the akuma threw at him! It was all my fault too; the akuma was after me and if I hadn’t shown my cards by being worried for his safety, the akuma wouldn’t have – ”

“Wait, I stopped a car?” Emelie interrupted, a bewildered expression taking over her face as she pried herself out of the bear hug. Tom glanced between Emelie, Sabine and Ladybug.

“You don’t remember?” He asked.

“N-no…how did I stop a thrown car? I can’t even imagine…” Emelie mumbled, looking at the floor as she raised a hand to her head.

“Honey, do you feel okay?” Sabine spoke softly, swiftly appearing at the girl’s side and offering a comforting hand to her shoulder.

“Lao Lao, I don’t feel very well. I’m dizzy…and hungry.” Emelie continued to mumble, swaying as she attempted to look up at Sabine, who quickly gripped onto her arm to try to stabilize her. Ladybug grabbed the nearest chair and rushed toward Emelie with it. She helped Sabine guide Emelie into the chair, noticing the sound of her father fumbling with something near the counter. A moment later he reappeared in her line of vision holding a bottle of juice and a sandwich. Ladybug nervously held Emelie’s hand as her parents got her to drink some of the juice to get her sugar up. After downing half the bottle, Emelie seemed to feel better and Ladybug let go of her hand, leading her to realise that it wasn’t Emelie’s hand that was shaking.

“I, uh…should go.” Ladybug stated awkwardly, before backing out the front door of the bakery. Once out of the way of the window, she bonked herself on the forehead with a grunt.

“Pull yourself together! She’s not dying, she’s just feeling faint…from stopping a car…which she can’t remember doing.” She ranted as she paced back toward the alleyway she transformed in. Dropping said transformation, Marinette let out a garbled scream. She looked down at Tikki, mouth opening and shutting as she found herself unable to formulate her words.

“I know, Marinette. She had to have used magic to stop that car, and that only confirms what I was worried about. You must have been transformed when she was conceived. But I don’t even know ho– ”

“WAIT! I…with Adrien…as Ladybug? That means he eventually knows my secret! Does he find out before or after we, uh…”

“Marinette, it hasn’t happened yet. Why would I know?” Tikki sassed, her little red face shifting where an eyebrow would raise. Right as Marinette opened her mouth to apologise for being silly, she came to a sudden realisation.

“Tikki, she doesn’t know I’m Ladybug.” She stated softly. Tikki tilted her head in slight confusion, urging her to go on.

“It’s just…if Adrien knows, and she doesn’t, that means we’re both keeping it secret from her. Whenever I imagined me and Adrien having children, I always thought I’d be honest with them about my life as a hero, and that you’d be there with me. I’m so tired of keeping secrets, is it silly that I fantasise about not having any?” Marinette explained, voice becoming soft with sadness.

“I’m sure that you have a good reason to keep it from her, and if I know you at all, you’re probably waiting for the day it’s safe to reveal it to her. In the meantime, you should talk to her. If she has a good, happy life it will probably help you feel better. You need to find out as much as you can about whatever magic she has, anyway.” Tikki offered with an encouraging smile. Marinette nods as she gains confidence. Wordlessly, she opens her purse for Tikki to hide in, before making her way back into the bakery.

Re-entering, she finds the place in a lighter mood than what she left it in. Emelie and her parents are sitting around one of the small tables, all laughing happily. Marinette wouldn’t have been surprised if an outsider looked upon them and immediately knew they were family.

“Hey maman et papa! What’s going on?” She greeted warmly as she approached. All three turned to her with big smiles, before Emelie appeared to remember her situation and her face dropped to a nervous smile. Marinette could see her attempting to say some sort of greeting, but she only managed to open and shut her mouth a few times before Marinette decided to save her.

“I just bumped into Ladybug, she told me a girl would be staying with us overnight. That must be you, right?” Marinette asked in the most approachable voice she could muster. Emelie appeared to refocus as she took a deep breath.

“Yep! That’s me! I’m Emelie. You’re Marinette – I mean, I figure you are Marinette based on context clues.” Emelie rambled, attempting to maintain a confident expression. Marinette laughed, holding back her chaotic side by refraining from bringing up the fact that she knew her name earlier today.

“It’s nice to meet you, Emelie.” She said sweetly, before pulling up a fourth chair and sitting down with her family.

“It’s also nice that you’re feeling better, dear.” Sabine commented with a warm smile at Emelie.

“Oh, yeah. I feel amazing now after inhaling that sandwich! What magical ingredients were in that thing?” Emelie exclaimed, completely distracted from the fact that she was sitting right next to Marinette.

“Oh, nothing special. Turkey, cranberry sauce, and camembert.” Tom answered.

“Camembert? I love that stuff! I _camembert_ to go a day without it!” Emelie joked, raising the back of her hand to her forehead and leaning back dramatically. Tom bursts into the same hearty laughter that Marinette had walked in on.

“Amazing! Another terrible pun from Emelie! She’s going to get along great with our family, isn’t she Marinette?” Tom bellowed with a grin. But, Marinette had only half heard him. Something about camembert and puns was making her mind feel like it was whirring away, but whenever she tried to think about what it meant, the train of thought got further away.

“Marinette?” Sabine spoke up, resting a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. Marinette shook her head and refocused.

“I’m fine! Don’t worry about me, just spacing out!” Marinette reassured with an awkward smile.

“You know, it’s crazy; if I didn’t know any better, I’d assume the two of you were related!” Sabine teased, gesturing between Emelie and Marinette. In a move that didn’t make her any less suspicious, Emelie began laughing forcefully. Marinette knew she had to intervene again.

“I know what you mean, maman! That’s how I know Emelie and I will be good friends. Can the two of us go up to my room now?” Marinette said as casually as she could while reaching toward Emelie and pulling her up onto her feet by the elbow.

“Sure, honey. You girls have a few hours until dinner, I’ll call you down then.” Sabine answered, giving Marinette all she needed to gently drag Emelie toward the entrance to the apartment.

“Come on, Emelie. I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping.”

Once inside her room, Marinette relaxed, collapsing onto her chaise. It was going to be rough keeping this secret from her parents if Emelie was going to insist on being as much of a disaster as her mother. She also didn’t want to freak her out by revealing that she knew everything, which only added another level of secret keeping and stress.

“I know you said you were fine, but are you actually okay?” Emelie asked cautiously. Marinette snapped up, remembering who was in the room with her.

“Yep! Just checking how comfortable the chaise is to sleep on. It is! You’d be too tall for it, so you can take my bed and I’ll sleep here.” Marinette prattled on, hoping that talking fast would be distracting enough.

“Really? I’d feel bad for kicking you out of your own bed. Especially considering I’m just a stranger.”

Hearing her statement, Marinette looked up to see an odd sad expression washed over Emelie’s face.

_Is she sad she has to pretend not to know me? That I don’t know her?_

“I can think of something that will fix both of those. How about we get out the spare mattresses and get to know each other over a sleepover!” Marinette suggested hopefully. A completely open book, Emelie’s eyes lit up at the idea, before dropping to a cautious expression, then to a contemplative one.

“You don’t have to tell me anything that you don’t want to, just whatever you feel comfortable saying.” Marinette reassured gently. Emelie seemed to finish her thinking and gave a content nod.

“That sounds super nice. I’d love that.”

A few minutes and a whirlwind of activity later, the floor of Marinette’s room was covered in roll out mattresses that were drowning in a sea of blankets and pillows. While Marinette was admiring her own handy work, Emelie returned with a tray of hot chocolates and cookies and let out a short whistle.

“Wow, this place got wild really fast.” Emelie commented. Marinette giggled.

“It takes a lot of effort to _not_ make it look like this.” She admitted, noting the odd expression Emelie wore. Marinette couldn’t help but wonder if her future self was more organised, or at least pretended to not be a hot mess to encourage her daughter to be better. The pair of them sat down on the mattresses with a mug each and got comfy on the blankets. It was too warm to wrap the blankets around themselves, but they were handy for a soft place to lounge. Marinette paused to think about how she was going to approach this. She promised Tikki she would find out how much Emelie knows, but if her questions were too leading Emelie could get suspicious and not give her anything.

“So, I hear you had quite the rough day with the akuma.” She started, hoping to sound casual.

“Yeah. People from around here must be used to them by now, but I’d never seen one before so it was pretty scary for my first time to be used as a hostage and dangled off a building.” Emelie admitted with a tired expression.

“Hey, at least you got to see Ladybug and Chat Noir up close and in action. It’s not every day you talk to people with real life _magic powers_.” Marinette commented, waiting to gauge her reaction. What she wasn’t expecting was a thoughtful expression.

“Hey Marinette, do you know if Chat Noir has a problem with Ladybug?” Emelie asked.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“When Chat Noir was taking me home, I mentioned her and he got really distant and took off suddenly. Does he not like her or something?” Emelie elaborated. Marinette was thrown off guard. She certainly wasn’t expecting this line of questioning.

“I’m sure whatever was making him act like that was something from his personal life, not Ladybug. I wouldn’t worry about it. I’m sure he’s fine, anyway.” Marinette reassured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Adrien's perspective


	5. Family Ties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien learns some things about himself and his future

Chat Noir was not okay.

With a grunt, he launched himself up to the nearest rooftop in the direction of his home and away from the Dupain-Cheng bakery. His mind whirred away, trying to process the information he just received from his future daughter. She really made it sound like Chat Noir and Ladybug are a couple in her time. He was already having trouble dealing with meeting his future daughter and learning about his own future. This, in addition, was too much. Under normal circumstances he would be ecstatic to learn his future involves being in a happy relationship with the girl of his dreams. But to find out that it supposedly happens while he is married to Marinette made his stomach lurch. The idea of breaking both her heart and his daughter’s made him want to throw up. Emelie seemed to idolise him, so how could he do this to her? How could he ever ruin whatever he did to earn Marinette’s love by having an affair behind her back? He almost didn’t remember to detransform before walking into the Agreste estate. Once the transformation was dropped in a nearby laneway, he looked expectantly at his dark, little kwami.

“Plagg, you told me we’d talk about what’s going on once the fight was over. How could Emelie use Cataclysm? I thought you said when I have kids they wouldn’t get powers. Also, why doesn’t she know I’m Chat Noir? You think she would at least figure it out after realising she had the power of destruction, if I didn’t tell her directly.” Adrien ranted, eager to learn his insight. Plagg groaned, rolling lazily as he floated in front of is chosen.

“How do you expect me to think while I’m this starved, let alone talk?” Plagg whined dramatically. With a sigh, Adrien offered him his jacket’s inner pocket to hide within before making his way home. Nathalie didn’t seem surprised to see him as he entered the front door, not even questioning why he was home so early. Perhaps news of the akuma attack spread quickly today.

“Now that you have the rest of the day off from school, you’ll be able to fit in more piano practise to make up for what you’ve missed this past week.” Nathalie stated without looking up from her tablet.

“Also, don’t forget about your homework for your Mandarin tutoring.” She added dryly, before heading into his father’s study. Adrien rolled his eyes as he made his way up to his room. Once safe inside, He hastily shut the door and rushed to the mini-bar to retrieve some of Plagg’s cheese.

“Now this service is more like it! Bring me that gooey goodness!” Plagg exclaimed blissfully, flourishing with a twirl in the air. Deciding not to call out Plagg’s sudden burst of energy when he was previously too tired to talk; Adrien brought a small wheel of camembert to the kwami.

“If you waited this long to tell you don’t actually know anything – ”

“I don’t know anything.” Plagg interrupted bluntly. Adrien growled, pulling his hand holding the cheese away from Plagg.

“Wait! I have an idea of what’s going on. But I don’t know anything for sure.” Plagg clarified. Adrien raised an eyebrow and nodded to indicate for him to continue.

“It’s true that being the holder of the miraculous doesn’t pass any traits on to offspring. But, I’ve met past holders’ kittens and they never had my energy within them. Not like I sensed with your kid. The only thing I can think of that could make that happen is if…you mated while transformed.” Plagg revealed. Adrien dropped the wheel of camembert in shock, leading Plagg to zoom to the floor to retrieve it.

“While t-transformed? I…didn’t kn-know that was p-possible.” Adrien stuttered, trying to divert himself from the realisation of having a child with Marinette meant he eventually gets intimate with her finally sinking in.

“It’s not meant to be possible, but one of you hormonal humans was bound to find a way eventually.”

“Marinette must know I’m Chat Noir in the future. She’s going to love all of me and we’re going to have a child together and we’re going to be amazing parents!” Adrien raved on, collapsing onto his bed before he could swoon.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re going to be a dad. Big whoop. Can we get back to the important part of the conversation?”

“But if we’re kind of fused while transformed, doesn’t that make Emelie your child as well?” Adrien speculated. Plagg’s eyes lit up, before shaking his head and refocusing.

“If her DNA is part Kwami energy, then I guess you’re right. But, this is bigger than us. She’s not entirely human, and she’s not entirely Kwami; she’s a unique fusion that’s never been seen before.”

“That sounds kind of dangerous.” Adrien commented, becoming serious.

"Eh, it can't be that dangerous. It's not like Marinette would have been stupid enough to be transformed too.” Plagg responded casually, then suddenly winced as he realised what he said.

"Wait, why would Marinette be transformed?” Adrien questioned, jolting up to a sitting position and tilting his head in confusion.

"What would I have to give you for you to pretend I didn't say that?” Plagg pleaded, burying his face in his tiny paws.

"Did Ladybug give Marinette a Miraculous too?” Plagg stared blankly at Adrien, absorbing his question. Without warning, the kwami burst into a cackling laughter.

"I don’t know why I bothered getting scared that I blew Ladybug’s identity; I forgot you were an oblivious idiot.” Plagg wheezed, wiping a tear away from his eye. It wasn’t until Adrien gasped that he knew he messed up.

“Ladybug is Marinette?!” Adrien yelped, eyes blowing wide open as he stared in disbelief.

“One day I’m going to learn how to quit while I’m ahead.” Plagg mumbled to himself before collapsing dramatically onto the bed.

"I don’t cheat on Marinette with Ladybug, she is Ladybug! I get married to Ladybug! I have a child with Ladybug! Ladybug is going to love me! We’re going to be happy!” Adrien shouted into his pillow while rolling on the bed. Plagg groaned in irritation, pulling his ears down to try and block out the noise. It wasn’t enough to block out what Adrien said next.

“Plagg, claws out!”

By the time Chat Noir made it to the bakery, his heart was racing, beating so hard it threatened to burst out of his chest. Knowing he was about to see the love of his life and his future daughter gave him more nervous energy than he knew what to do with. He carefully climbed onto the balcony leading to Marinette's room, avoiding making any unnecessary noise. Moments away from knocking, he stopped at the sound of Emelie saying his superhero name. Unable to resist hearing people talk about him without knowing he was listening, he leaned in closer to hear what they were saying more clearly.

“I’m sure whatever was making him act like that was something from his personal life, not Ladybug. I wouldn’t worry about it. I’m sure he’s fine, anyway.” He heard Marinette say, voice soft and soothing. Chat Noir winced, regretting how he ran off from Emelie so abruptly earlier.

“Oh, wow. That is a lot of photos. How did I not see them earlier?” Emelie spoke, sounding startled. Chat Noir melted when he heard Marinette giggle.

“That's my friend Adrien. You met him earlier today, right?” Chat Noir immediately tensed at the sound of his real name. He realised he may very likely find out how much work he'll have to do to get her to fall for him. Would she be open to the idea of dating him, or would she politely turn him down at first?

“Yeah. He ran out and tried to protect me, but I only got him in more danger. Your dad seemed pretty upset by the idea of him getting hurt.” Chat Noir thought back to the fight, remembering how the akuma went after him in the first place because Mr Dupain had shown that he cared about him. He fought back a sigh as he wished finding out people cared about him stopped coming with life threatening dangers.

“I'm not surprised. Ever since papa met Adrien he's been calling him his son-in-law. He and maman are absolutely convinced we're in love and are going to get married.” Marinette's voice chirped playfully, Chat Noir being fully aware that she knows they are right. He wanted to laugh, but a part of him felt bad that Marinette's parents were able to figure out he had feelings for her before he did.

Chat Noir leant back, away from the trapdoor. Has he always had feelings for Marinette outside of the mask, or was he projecting his feelings for Ladybug on her? Whenever she stuttered, tripped, or was generally awkwardly nervous around him, a part of his mind told him that she had a crush on him. But, whenever that thought came up, he had pushed it down so he didn't have to think about it. The more Chat Noir thought about it now, the more he realised that he was avoiding the idea of Marinette liking him because if she did, he'd have to think about how he felt about her. He was so focused on Ladybug being his one true love and on some level he knew Marinette threatened to take some of that space in his heart, so without knowing they were one person he had become scared of being disloyal to his Lady. But, now that he knew they were the same person? Of course everything he had repressed for her came tumbling out into the light. Knowing that Ladybug can be incredibly funny and borderline chaotic when she's not switched on for duty only made her character deeper and even easier to love. Chat Noir felt as though he might start buzzing from excitement, imagining how much fun it would be to have a family with Marinette. He couldn't wait for the colour, chaos, humour, warmth, and love that came with her.

“Emelie, are you okay?” The sound of Marinette's voice snapped him back out of his daydream. He leant back in, worry filling his mind for the welfare of his daughter.

“I'm okay. I was just thinking about my dad...listening to you talk about h – Adrien only made me realise how much I miss him.” Emelie explained. Chat Noir felt his heart sink.

“Oh, I'm sorry!”

“No, it's okay. It's just...I wish I could talk to him about what's happening to me and get his advice. Even if he didn't know how to fix everything, he'd know how to make me feel better.” Chat Noir clenched his jaw and fists as Emelie's voice became shakier as she spoke until he could hear the painful sound of her bursting into tears.

“I'm sorry, I just realised that in a few hours when we have dinner, it will be the first time in my life without sharing a meal with papa. It sounds so stupid saying it out loud, but –”

Not being able to contain himself any longer, Chat Noir interrupted Emelie by knocking frantically on the trap door before yanking it open and dropping himself through. Below the bed, he saw Marinette holding Emelie in a comforting embrace, both girls looking up at him in surprise.

“Chat Noir? What are you doing in my room?” Marinette questioned.

_I couldn't bear to hear my daughter crying so I needed to be here for her._

“I wanted to check on Emelie and see how she is going. It wouldn't be right to let such a sweet princess cry, so I was wondering if I could take the two of you out for some ice cream and hopefully cheer you up.” Chat Noir suggested, forcing himself to present calmer than how he felt.

“Really? That's...very sweet of you. Would you feel up to that?” Marinette spoke cautiously, rubbing gentle circles into Emelie's back.

“I'd really like that.” Emelie replied softly, smiling despite the tears that still glistened in her eyes. Chat Noir promised to meet them outside after they let Marinette's parents know where they were going. A short couple of minutes later, the girls emerged from the front of the bakery and Chat Noir was taken aback by how lovely Marinette looked in the afternoon sun. How he felt must have been clear to read on his face, because the moment she made eye contact with him, she immediately turned away with a bright blush spreading over her cheeks. She was adorable.

As they made their way to where Andre had his stand set up, Emelie's mood improved intensely. Chat Noir smiled, assuming that on some subconscious level, being near him made her feel better. When Emelie darted away to balance along a stone wall, Marinette veered closer toward him until they were almost touching.

“She's quite remarkable, isn't she?” Chat Noir commented, revelling in their proximity.

“You can say that again. Apparently she stopped a car earlier today. If that's not remarkable I don't know what is.” Marinette responded, eyes not leaving Emelie as the girl giggled from her vantage point.

“Yeah! When she used Cataclysm it was probably the best thing I had ever seen!” He added, beaming with pride. It took him a few seconds to realise that Marinette was no longer walking beside him. He stopped and turned to see she had frozen on the spot, a look a distressed realisation plastered on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> First of all, thank you so much to everyone leaving feedback on this story. It really warms my heart to hear that people are enjoying it and I hope I can continue to entertain!
> 
> On a less cheerful note, I have managed to cataclysm my laptop, so any future update of this story will have to be written from my phone, which is very awkward to write on. This means that updates might come later than I would hope to be able to release as it will physically take me longer to write them. But, let's be real, I wasn't being very consistent anyway so it probably won't make that much of a difference.
> 
> Thanks again for reading my story and I hope to see you back for the next update!


	6. The Princess and the Cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir bonds with his soulmate

Chat Noir flinched as he realised how much information he just gave away. He braced himself for what he has been waiting for ever since he first fell in love with Ladybug. 

“Milady? Is everything okay?” He asked softly, just in case there were unseen people within earshot. She twitched at the nickname, but didn't say anything about it. He stepped in front of her and placed a hand gently over her upper arm. Marinette looked up at him with beautiful, glistening eyes that could stop his heart.

“Adrien...” She whispered, sending shivers down his spine.

“Yes?” He prompted, feeling himself be pulled in toward her. 

“I can’t believe I could do this to him!” She suddenly exclaimed, the glistening in her eyes quickly forming into tears. 

“Wait, what?” 

“If Emelie used Cataclysm, then she is clearly your daughter, not Adrien’s. I can’t believe I would cheat on the love of my life! Does he know she isn’t his? Do I lie to him and make him think she is? I love him so much, I’d hate myself if I ever hurt him like that. I can’t stand the idea—”

Chat Noir cut her off mid-rant by pulling her into a tight embrace, attempting to still her shaking body and comfort her guilt-ridden mind. This was not the revelation he was expecting, but considering his earlier jump to a conclusion, he was really not surprised.

 _We really are soulmates_.

“I’m sorry, minou.” She spoke under her breath.

“What for? You haven’t done anything wrong.” He tried to reassure. She pulled herself back just enough to look up at his face.

“Not yet. I’m sorry for what I’m going to do. I know you love me, but you deserve so much more than some sort of affair while I’m married to someone else. I hate that I’m going to do something like this that will hurt the two men I love the most!” She revealed, hands clasping at his collarbone and sliding into fists, before pressing her face back into his chest. Chat Noir shifted his hold of her, bringing his hand to her chin to tilt her head back up to face him again.

“Marinette, please don't worry about cheating on Adrien. I don't think you could ever do anything like that to hurt him.” It was risky revealing himself now, but it was all he could think to do to help.

“But...Emelie...” She said through gentle sobs.

“Yes, she's our daughter. I know what it looks like, but I promise you it doesn't mean you cheat on Adrien.” It was now or never.

“B-but the only way that would make sense would be if you were...if Adrien was...” As her words faded out, her eyes widened with new realisation as she gazed up at him. Only now, there was hopefulness instead of distress.

“Hi Marinette. It’s me.”

“Oh thank god.” She moaned, before suddenly grabbing onto the back of his head and pulling him down. She pressed her lips into his, and despite the forcefulness, it felt so soft and warm he felt like he could melt. Keeping one arm wrapped around her waist, he brought the other hand to hold the side of her face as he pressed back. He parted his lips to deepen the kiss and found her mirroring his actions. As their tongues danced across each other’s mouths, taking in and tasting as much as they could, Chat Noir found himself pulling her body tighter in towards his, refusing to leave any space between them. In an upsetting move, Marinette pulled her mouth away from his, causing him to let out an almost inaudible whine.

“I love you.” She proclaimed gently, now raking both sets of fingers through his hair, eliciting a purr within his chest. A smile he didn’t want to fight spread over his face as he stared into her bluebell eyes.

“I love you too.” He responded, pulling her face back in towards his and continuing the impassioned kiss. The big reveal wasn’t quite what he had imagined, but it was perfect. Chat Noir believed nothing could possibly ruin this moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short in comparison! As I'm reaching the end of the story, the different lengths of different perspectives would make adding the next three perspectives way too long in comparison to previous chapters, and I didn't want to have two out of three in one chapter. I am working on the next update so hopefully it won't be long.
> 
> Next up: Emelie wonders why her mother and Chat Noir are taking so long...


	7. You Can't Handle the Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did you ever as a kid walk downstairs at Christmas to see your mother kissing Santa Claus? 
> 
> Because Emelie knows how kid-you felt.

Emelie giggled as she balanced on the stone wall. Back home, her mother always told her to get down before she hurt herself. It was fun taking advantage of the fact that Marinette didn’t know to be over-protective of her. She seemed pretty preoccupied talking to Chat Noir the last time she looked back at her, anyway. She could probably get away with a lot right now without either of them even noticing. With a short prep, she cartwheeled along the structure. Once back on her feet, she waited for a reaction. When she heard nothing, she felt the urge to push harder. Once she turned the corner the wall bent around, Emelie threw her weight onto her hands and began walking on them, legs sticking up in the air helping her balance. She was always so confused why she was able to do so many gymnastic skills with such ease, but seemed to bump into every door frame and countertop she ever encountered in her life. Her father joked that she had inherited her mother’s selective clumsiness that activated when not focusing, but it honestly made a lot of sense. 

Noticing that she once again did not get any reaction out of either Marinette or Chat Noir, she stopped moving and tilted her head back down to look behind her only to see that neither of them were there. Realising that at some point the pair had stopped trailing behind her, she hopped off the wall onto her feet. She must have gone the wrong way and they were so involved with their conversation that they didn’t notice she wasn’t with them anymore. It must have been either a really interesting conversation or a really serious one for them to lose track of her. In her time, her mother often spoke of Chat Noir fondly, so she knew they were friends. But it was still weird seeing them walk so close to each other so comfortably. Emelie shook her head to refocus. It wasn’t that weird to stand close to a friend. Making her way back towards the corner she turned, she hoped that they hadn’t gotten too far away. 

As soon as she cleared the corner, she saw they hadn’t gotten anywhere, horror washing over her as she realised why. In front of her she found her future mother wrapped around and heavily kissing Chat Noir, who was not her future father Adrien. 

_Maybe it’s just a fling that will end before my parents get together. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything._

“I love you.” 

“I love you too.” 

Emelie had thought too soon. She tried to force herself to look away as they kissed again, but she was stuck frozen. These two were deeply in love, when Marinette was supposed to be falling for Adrien. Chat Noir was only there to check on Emelie, so did her being here change the course of things? Was there still time to fix everything, or was she doomed to fade from existence? As she spiralled downward, tears burst from her eyes and a sob escaped from her mouth. The pair immediately broke apart, heads snapping toward her direction.

“Emelie, wait! It’s not what it looks like!” Chat Noir exclaimed, panic spreading over his face. Marinette wore a similar expression, but she appeared to be looking at something above her.

“Look out!” She warned. Emelie glanced up to where she was pointing to see a dark butterfly fluttering down towards her, eventually landing on and sinking into the button on her overalls. A dark presence washed over her, the sound of Marinette and Chat Noir screaming and calling out to her becoming muffled.

“Hello Paradox, I am Hawkmoth.” A strangely familiar voice echoed through her mind.

“Nope. This isn’t happening.” Emelie groaned, stumbling back on her feet as she fought for control.

“I admire your strength, but it is useless to resist me—”

“I said NO! I did not accidentally travel back in time just to be mind-controlled by some manipulative hack of a villain! Get out or I’ll make you!” Emelie yelled, shocking him enough to regain control over her body. She grabbed the button and ripped it out of the material.

“Cataclysm!” She screamed, clenching a fist over the button. A moment later, she felt it turn to dust and relaxed her hand, letting the dust fall. Out of the dust squeezed the dark little butterfly, which attempted to flutter away.

“Not so fast.” She grunted, before catching the insect mid-flight in her hands.

“It’s time to de-evilise.” The words escaped her lips automatically. She cupped her hands over the butterfly and focused on the negative energy dissolving. Within a moment, she could see a pinkish white light glowing within her hands. As the glow died down, she opened her hands to reveal a white butterfly that eagerly made its escape toward the sky. Taking her eyes off of it, she glanced back down at Marinette and Chat Noir, who both stood there with bewildered expressions. She opened her mouth to talk, but was quickly overwhelmed with dizziness. 

One moment, her vision was blurring into darkness, the next, she was lying down on the ground being held by Marinette and Chat Noir as they looked at her with concern.

“Emelie! Are you okay?” Chat Noir exclaimed, voice raised from clear panic. Marinette seemed just as worried, as she held Emelie’s hand, rubbing gentle circles in an effort to comfort.

“Wh-what happened? Why am I lying down?” Emelie asked, lifting her free hand to clutch at her throbbing head. Chat Noir and Marinette exchanged serious looks.

“You don’t remember using magic again?” Marinette questioned, looking into her eyes as if they had answers. Emelie shot up, startling Marinette and Chat Noir to jolt back.

“Magic? Again? What are you talking about?” She yelped in shock.

“Do you often black out and lose time like that?” Chat Noir asked, inching back closer to her. Emelie thought about all the times in her life she had been told that she collapsed and had memory loss. It had been happening ever since she was eight, but she realised that it had become a lot worse lately. Was Chat Noir trying to imply that every time she fainted it was because she had been using magic? Just the thought of the idea made her head ache even more painfully than before. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was not supposed to think about it this much. Was that magic too? Suddenly, it felt as if someone dropped a house on her head, causing her to cry out in pain.

“Maman, what is happening to me?” Emelie groaned. Marinette leant towards Emelie and wrapped her arms around her.

“I don’t know exactly why, but I’m pretty sure it’s my fault. For that, I am deeply sorry.” Marinette whispered, squeezing her tighter. Chat Noir crawled to the other side of Emelie and embraced her from the other side.

“Me too. We don’t know all the mistakes that we are going to make, but please know we’d _never_ do anything to intentionally hurt you.” He added on, matching how softly Marinette had spoken. Emelie clenched her eyes shut as she felt her vision shaking. There was something so familiar about Chat Noir, as if she had memories like this but something was stopping her from remembering. There was something that she used to know and it feels so close, yet so out of reach.

“Can someone please expl—” Emelie cut off her own question at the sound of screaming coming from not too far away.

_Another akuma attack?_

“Milady, I think now might be time to let the cat out of the bag.” Chat Noir suggested as he swiftly rose to his feet. Emelie whipped around to look up at him, then snapped back to look at Marinette, who wore a resigned expression.

“I guess this will make it easier to explain. But after we deal with the akuma.” She sighed. Before Emelie could ask what was happening, Marinette stood up and assumed a confident stance.

“Tikki, spots on!” Marinette exclaimed, quickly followed by a red blob streaking through the air and being sucked into her earrings. In a flash, her mother was replaced by Ladybug.

“Wha— bu...maman?!” Emelie gasped, eyes blowing wide open as she stared at the heroine.

“Promise me you’ll hide and stay safe while we go find the akuma victim and deal it them.” Ladybug ordered, with an air of authority that she had only seen from her mother in her time.

“I wouldn’t worry about either of those things, Ladybug. See, I’m already here...and Hawkmoth is very insistent on me capturing that girl and bringing her to him!” Bellowed a loud, brassy voice from somewhere behind Emelie. She twisted around to see a floating figure of a man with six fiery wings dressed in lavish robes about a hundred metres away and two stories high. With one set of wings covering his eyes and another covering his feet, Emelie hoped that meant that he hadn’t seen Ladybug transform.

“Hand over the girl, or face my holy fire!” The akumatised victim threatened. Chat Noir scoffed, taking up a fighting stance.

“Get snuffed, hot-head.” He jeered at the villain, who did not take it well.

“My name is not hot-head, it’s Seraph-Fear!” He screamed, shooting a streak of flame at him. Emelie watched Chat Noir dodge out of the way as she felt an arm wrap around her waist and tug her out of the literal line of fire.

“Holy smokes, that was close!” Chat Noir joked, wiping fake sweat off his forehead. Emelie squinted at the black clad hero in suspicion. After everything she had just seen between him and Marinette, the similarities to someone else she knows were too strong to shake off.

“Papa?” She questioned, eliciting a laugh from Ladybug, who released her arm from her waist and stepped in front of her.

“Of course  _that’s_ how she recognises you!” She teased with a grin. Before the banter could continue, Seraph-Fear was barrelling toward them with intimidating speed. Without hesitation, both Ladybug and Chat Noir charged in the villain’s direction.

Emelie was in awe watching her parents spar with the akumatised victim. They seemed to have an uncanny ability to dodge as Seraph-Fear lunged his middle wings at them, while also managing to get a lot of punches and kicks in. It was blowing her mind that it was indeed her parents. How did she not realise until now? Unless...she did know? That felt right, but it didn’t make any sense. How could she forget something this big? In a wave of dizziness, Emelie lost her balance and dropped to her knees. Having made enough noise for his enhanced hearing to pick up on, Chat Noir snapped around to look at her.

“Emelie!” He cried out. Hearing the stress in his voice, Ladybug quickly turned her attention to him. Seraph-Fear took full advantage of the pair being distracted from the fight, wrapping his flaming wings around their ankles before hurling them down the street away from Emelie. Wasting no time, the villain sped over to Emelie and hoisted her up in his arms, before his wings took of into the sky, Emelie yelping as she left the ground.

_Great. Out of the two_ _akuma_ _I’ve seen ever, they’ve both kidnapped me and taken me dangerously high off of solid ground._

Not being quite silly enough to demand to be put down when being flown over the Parisian skyline, Emelie decided to assess her situation as best she could as her dizziness made her increasingly delirious. The buildings they were flying over weren’t familiar, but then again even if she were to visit any of these places frequently, she’d remember them from a different perspective. Looking up to where they were going, she managed to see a building she did recognise getting closer and closer.

“Hey, akuma guy? Why are you taking me to my dad’s old house?” She asked. Did Hawkmoth know who her father was? Or was kidnapping Adrien also part of the plan and he didn’t know he was out? A glowing frame appeared around Seraph-Fear's eyes and he suddenly stopped flying.

“Emelie!” Rang the unmistakable scream of her father, who sounded not too far away. Before she could call out for him, she felt the body of the akumatised victim convulse. Looking at him, she saw dark ripples wash over him until he appeared to be an average looking man,and out of the cross around his neck popped out a dark butterfly. 

In an instant she was falling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I post what I plan to be the penultimate chapter, I'd like to thank everyone who has gone out of their way to say the nicest, most encouraging things. Knowing that even a handful of people were enjoying my story was enough to keep me going and keep me inspired.


	8. The Power of Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter: Ladybug and Chat Noir have lots of questions that get answered, the most important one being: will Emelie be okay?

Ladybug swung wide and hard, propelling herself upwards above the skyline of Paris, eyes darting back and forth over the horizon, attempting to catch a glimpse of the akuma with her future daughter. When her yo-yo began buzzing, she dropped onto a nearby roof and continued free-running while she answered the call.

“Marinette, have you found her yet? I can’t see them in any direction at skyline level!” Chat Noir’s voice crackled through the yo-yo, the distortion coming from emotional tension rather than a poor connection. Hearing Chat Noir- Adrien, be terrified was one of the most distressing sounds she had ever experienced. Ladybug forced herself to focus.

“The akuma must be weaving between buildings to avoid us. We’ll find her, Adrien. We just need to keep looking.” She rationalised, attempting to keep calm for the both of them.

“But what if we—”

“We have to find her!” She yelled, losing her cool and the sound of his whimper. She was about to apologise when she caught a flash of movement in the corner of her eye. Turning to see what it was, she gasped at the sight of a purple butterfly shifting into a white one.

“I found the akuma. It’s been released from the victim so she must be nearby.” Ladybug informed, as she made her way to where she saw the butterfly flap away from.

“Go find her. I’ll track your location.” Chat Noir stated, before hanging up. Ladybug swung herself down between two buildings to see a man stumbling off a giant, red and black-spotted inflatable mat. When she landed, the man whipped around to look at her, eyes shining with gratitude.

“Ladybug! Thank the Lord you caught us in time. You truly are the guardian angel of Paris! I’ll never let vandals affect me like this again!” He almost sung, raising his hands to the sky joyfully. Ladybug smiled politely, before looking back at the mat to see Emelie lying unconscious on it still. The man’s happy expression dropped when he saw where her attention was.

“When I came to, she was already unconscious. Will your magic heal her?” He asked softly, voice riddled with concern. Ladybug forced a confident face as she turned to address him.

“Yes, I’m sure it will. I’m also sure you would like to head home now and rest.” She commented. With a quick nod, the man looked around to gather his bearings before heading off around a corner. A moment later, Chat Noir dropped onto the street and ran over toward Emelie.

“What’s wrong with her?” He asked, reaching for her and picking her up gently.

“I assume she passed out after making a Lucky Charm.” Chat Noir’s eyes widened at her answer.

“That’s three in a row with no recharging in between. That’s got to be dangerous for her.” He commented, looking down at Emelie with concern.

“I know. Can you help me with this?” Ladybug asked, gesturing towards the inflatable mat. Chat Noir nods, placing Emelie on the ground gently before grabbing the opposite side of the mat to Ladybug. Together in perfect synchronisation, they tossed the mat straight up into the air.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” She cried out as valiantly as she could muster. The mat burst into a swarm of glowing ladybugs, which spread out and washed over the scorch marks on the streets of Paris and the battle damage done by the akuma. Once they swept over Emelie, the girl sat up with a shocked expression on her face. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but immediately winced, hands flying up to grab at her head. She began groaning, which quickly transitioned to unintelligible yelling. Ladybug and Chat Noir scrambled over to her, dropping down to the ground either side of her.

“Emelie! What’s wrong?” Ladybug questioned, reaching towards her in an attempt to comfort her.

“It hurts! It hurts everywhere! Make it stop! Please!” Emelie screamed, convulsing as she rocked back and forth. A ripple of light energy washed over her body quickly, before a matching wave of dark energy followed.  As the types of energy continued to radiate, Emelie’s wails of pain grew in intensity. Ladybug felt tears filling her eyes as she struggled to deal with seeing Emelie hurting so much. She decided not to waste her energy fighting the tears back, instead choosing to focus on finding a way to help. Any second now, citizens would be emerging from the buildings now that the akuma had been dealt with, and with the state Emelie was in, it would put them all in danger if she lost control of the destructive magic.

“We need to get her out of here now!” Ladybug ordered the visibly distressed Chat Noir. He gave a shaky nod before scooping Emelie up in his arms, her arms automatically clinging around his neck. Ladybug set off in the direction of an abandoned warehouse where her and Chat Noir sometimes practised sparring, knowing Chat Noir would be following close behind. Once they had landed on the roof of the building, Ladybug knew it was time to look to her kwami for guidance.

“Tikki, I need help! Spots off!” A moment later her transformation was dropped and Tikki was floating in front of her with a sad, distressed expression that only told her that the kwami did not know how to help. At the sound of Chat Noir dropping behind her and dropping his own transformation, Marinette whipped around to see Adrien clinging to Emelie as he knelt to the ground, Plagg hovering close.

“Please tell me you know how to help her.” Adrien asked the dark kwami, practically begging for an answer.

“I’m sorry, kid. It was dangerous enough for her to have just my magic. The human form wasn’t made to withstand the power of both of us. It’s insane that she’s lived this long.” Plagg explained with no attempt to veil his gloom.

“Don’t say that!” Adrien cried out, clinging even tighter to their daughter, who was still convulsing dangerously with energy. Seeing her like this and seeing Adrien this upset made Marinette feel sick to her stomach. She wobbled over to Adrien and dropped down, putting a hand on both of them.

“Tikki, can you think of _anything_ we could do?” Marinette’s desperate question prompted a soft whine from Tikki, who’s resolve had broken and began crying.

“I’m so sorry, but I have no idea what to do. I wish I could help her, b-but I – ” Before Tikki could finish her sentence, there was a loud, thunderous boom, quickly followed by a blinding flash of light.

_That’s weird…doesn’t lightning usually come before thunder?_

“Scutum tuae protectionis accipe!” Shouted two synchronised voices. The effects of the blinding flash began wearing off and two figures came into focus in front of them; adult versions of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Hearing a gasp from the Adrien beside her, she turned to realise what he had gasped at. In his arms, Emelie was now surrounded in a glowing, golden, bubble-like aura and her convulsions has ceased.

“Don’t worry, we’ve put her in a stasis; she’ll be safe in there.” The older Ladybug reassured. Adrien visibly relaxed, his eyes gazing up at her full of hope.

“If you’re here, does that mean you have a way to help her?” He asked, receiving a nod from his future self.

“In order to save her we need to split her human and kwami halves into separate entities.” The older Chat Noir explained, before looking over at his partner.

“But to be able to cast that kind of magic we needed twice as much power, which is why we had to wait until there were twice as many of us.” The older Ladybug continued where he left off. Marinette did her best to comprehend what they were saying.

 “So if we cast the spell with you, we will have enough energy to split her kwami and human side and save her?” Marinette felt her spirits rise when she got synchronised nods in response to her question.

“Exactly. We’ve memorised it, but we wrote it down in the grimoire for you to read off of.” The future Chat Noir told them, pulling a very familiar book out of a black satchel that Marinette had failed to notice until now.

“That’s dad’s book!” Adrien exclaimed with surprise. Chat Noir rolled his eyes.

“Yep, sure is. We can crunch on that later. Let’s focus on this for now.” The black-clad hero said with dismissive gesticulation as he handed the book to his younger counterpart.

“We need to be standing in a circle around her. Oh! You’ll have to be transformed too.” The future Ladybug instructed. Marinette glanced around for the kwamis, before noticing them huddled together in comfort on Emelie’s stomach. She realised that they must be incredibly nervous about whether or not the spell would work which made them scared for not only Emelie’s safety, but also their chosen’s. As if sensing Marinette’s gaze, Tikki whipped her eyes up to meet hers. Offering a confident nod, she watched as her kwami breathed deeply before mirroring the action back. A flash of movement caught her eye, which quickly registered as Adrien reaching a hand towards Plagg. After a gentle rub over his head, Plagg’s expression showed a strong resolve. Adrien placed Emelie on the ground, and Marinette rose to her feet alongside him.

“Tikki, spots on!”

“Plagg, claws out!”

Once the teens felt the wave of their transformations wash over them, they shuffled formation alongside their future counterparts until they formed a circle. The young Chat Noir held the grimoire up so that Ladybug could also follow along clearly, and a look passed between them that told her that they had absolute faith in each other at this moment in time. Looking around the circle, each member of it nodded to say that they were ready.

“Ego invocabo in virtute deorum creaturae excidium”

As the incantation was spoken, Emelie’s form began to rise off of the floor of the roof until she was hovering gracefully a few feet above them. Ladybug felt a movement within herself as she spoke the words, the sensation similar to how it would feel to be a jar of honey that had a honey dipper plunged into it.

“Quod anima puellae in duas vitas dividi debeat”

As Ladybug began feeling emptier and lighter, she glanced up to see that the golden glow around Emelie was shifting quickly to a pinkish-white light with ripples of dark energy, accompanied by her physical form beginning to vibrate to the point where she appeared blurry and barely there. Ladybug shook her head quickly and forced her eyes back down to the words.

“Custodiat animam puellae”

With those final words, Ladybug felt as if the inside of her soul was being scraped at, leaving her physically woozy. She was unprepared for a shockwave of energy that knocked her backwards off her feet, causing her to black out momentarily.

Coming to, she looked around to see the others also regaining consciousness. But one thing caught her attention more than that; Emelie was standing in the middle of them all, with a very confused expression.

“Maman? Papa? What are y- how did you – ” She mumbled, looking down at the parents she remembered from her time, before being cut off by the future Chat Noir moving in a blur and grabbing her in a physically encompassing hug.

“You didn’t think you could get out of having dinner with your father that easily, did you?” He joked, only thinly attempting to veil his emotions. Emelie chuckled, hugging him back just as tight.

“Papa, I bent the fabric of time and space. What part of that could be considered easy?” She asked with an attempted sassy tone that was ruined by her uncontrollable tears of relief. The future Ladybug swooped in to her daughter, cupping her cheek and brushing a tear away with her thumb, before leaning in to wrap her arms around her child and her husband.

“Maybe not easy, but less embarrassing than if he showed up at your sleepover with Marlena.” She teased. The future Chat Noir leaned back and gasped with exaggerated insult.

“Hey! I probably wouldn’t do that…I’d have facetimed.” He said with increasing playfulness. Watching her future family interact was completely enchanting. Ladybug couldn’t help but wish that this was her life right now, not just her future. When it seemed like nothing could pull anyone out of this moment, a polite cough caused everyone’s eyes to snap to a blue, green, and gold fish that floated gently beside Emelie. Without warning, the future Ladybug and Chat Noir’s transformations dropped and the two kwamis zipped at lightning speed towards the new creature, sandwiching them in an affection hug.

“Whoa…is that – was that a part of me?” Emelie asked, a hand peeling away from her parents’ embrace and reaching to touch their tail with a curious stroke. The creature giggled delightfully, as if the touch had tickled.

“Hi Emelie! I’m your kwami half!” The kwami greeted warmly.

“Because you used to be one being, you two will be closer than any kwami and human have ever been before!” The future Tikki explained enthusiastically, eyes bouncing between the pair. Emelie stepped away from her parents and cupped her hands underneath the kwami, eyes filled with wonder.

“Do you have your own name?” The young being made an animated thinking face as it considered Emelie’s question, before their eyes lit up with excitement.

“I want to be called YeXiann!” They announced proudly.

“Hey! That’s like Ye Xian, the name of a Chinese version of Cinderella.” Ladybug thought out loud, thinking back to when her mother had told her the story long ago when she was still a little girl.

“Yep! That’s what I based it off of! I remember you telling us that story with a lot of fondness! She had a guardian spirit that looked after her that took the form of a beautiful fish, so I thought it was fitting.” YeXiann explained with a playful, smug tone.

“Speaking of which, I have to ask; what’s with the water theme? I thought combining a cat and a ladybug would make something more…catbuggy.” The young Chat Noir interjected, a look of confusion taking over his face. Future Plagg scoffed.

“We’re not literally a ladybug and a cat. These forms come from human symbolism for the luck spectrum.” He groaned, before the future Adrien swatted at him, as if warning him to play nice. YeXiann turned to face Chat Noir with a sharpness in their turquoise eyes that told Ladybug of their wisdom.

“Water is the ultimate form of creation and destruction. Life can only flourish where there is water; it is what produced all life on this planet. All life is born to water, whether it’s the water in the sea, or the water of a womb, or even the water of an egg. Water is also a powerful destroyer. Tsunamis and storms destroy lives in an instant, but water also patiently erodes the lands, taking piece by piece over the years until the coastline withers away.” The fish kwami clarified, voice growing hypnotic to their audience.

“Well, that explains why you were always so good at swimming!” The older Adrien joked, pulling everyone out of their revere.

“And why I was capable of casting Cataclysm and Lucky Charm.” Emelie mumbled with a shrug.

“Wait, you remember now?” The older Marinette questioned, concern rising in her voice.

“Ever since I woke up just before it’s slowly been coming back to me. Oh, Plagg and Tikki, I’ve missed you so much and I had no idea!” With that Emelie pulls all three kwami into a heartfelt hug.

“I’m sorry, but why did you wipe her memory and keep her away from Tikki and Plagg?” Ladybug asked softly. Future Marinette and Adrien shared a quick, serious look.

“I guess we sort of owe an explanation. You see, in a moment of emotional weakness and intensity, Adrien and I did…certain things that we should have waited to do once we were detransformed.” Marinette began to explain.

“H-how? I mean, how did you with the suits?” Ladybug asked. As the older Marinette opened her mouth to explain, she was immediately cut off by Emelie emitting an inhuman shriek.

“Please! I do NOT need to hear about _that_. I’m begging you.” She groaned, burying her face into her hands awkwardly as it grew redder and redder with embarrassment. Her parents chuckled at her antics, patting her on the back fondly.

“Anyway, we thought we got away with our recklessness until she turned four. Suddenly she began summoning the power of destruction, which is absolutely terrifying in the hands of a four year old. If it weren’t for my Lady’s powers we would have lost a lot of unfortunate furniture.” Adrien continued.

“When we taught her to be responsible with her power, we thought we had passed the worst of the situation. But then she turned eight. Suddenly she started using my power as well, and it wasn’t long until the amount of power she wielded began overwhelming her and threatened to take her life.” Marinette revealed with a solemn expression, arms instinctively pulling Emelie in for a hug. Ladybug watched as her future daughter hugged back her future self, patting her back comfortingly.

“In our attempts to save her, we found that removing her memories of having magic would temporarily stop the damage – ”

“Ever heard the phrase ‘knowledge is power’? It’s very literal.” Adrien cut in, causing Marinette to roll her eyes at him.

“As I was saying, it would only temporarily help, and it would require taking away all memories that personally connected her to magic, which included us being Ladybug and Chat Noir and thus all memories of Tikki and Plagg. We didn’t want to do that to them or her, so we tried desperately to find something else. Eventually, I tried summoning a Lucky Charm, but the object I got was an hourglass.”

“It didn’t take us long to figure out it meant we needed time to find a way to save Emi. It took a lot from all of us to decide to temporarily wipe her memory until we found something more permanent. Then – well, you kind of know the rest. Once we found a way to save her we needed to wait even longer to act on it because we needed twice as much power and when we discovered she had accidentally travelled back in time we knew that this was it.” Adrien completed.

“Everything we did was to save our baby girl, even though it was one of the hardest decisions of our lives.” Marinette confessed, Adrien wrapping an arm around her shoulders in support.

“I-I love you guys so much!” Emelie cried out. Future Adrien closed his other arm around his daughter, holding his family in a heartfelt embrace. The sound of a shaky breath from her side caused Ladybug to turn to find Chat Noir watching their future selves with the strongest expression of longing she had ever seen in her life. Gently, she slipped her hand into his. He didn’t look at her immediately; at first he squeezed her hand tight as he stared ahead.

“It’s really us, Chaton. One day we get to have this.” She reassured, using her other hand to cup his cheek in a caress. He turned to face her and slowly blinked at her, before leaning in and capturing her lips in a soft, but needy kiss. She found herself melting into his touch, allowing his free hand to wrap around her waist and pull her closer in towards him with no resistance.

“Ugh. Now that I know who you are that is super weird to watch.” The sound of Emelie’s voice startled Ladybug and Chat Noir to spring away from each other with nervous embarrassment.

 “Emi, I think it’s time to say goodbye and go home.” The older Adrien announced, patting the teen on the back.

“You and YeXiann will have to do it, Honey. We rode on the tail of your magic to get here, so you’ll have to transform and take us all back. You think you can handle it?” Marinette checked, voice and expression riddled with maternal concern. Emelie and YeXiann lock eyes in a non-verbal discussion, before they both turned back to her and nodded confidently.

 “Okay, YeXiann. How do we transform? You don’t have a Miraculous.” Emelie discussed with her kwami, who let out an excited whoop.

“I’ll make it now!” They chirped, performing a loop de loop in the air. For a few seconds they strained and twisted, pulling creation energy in from around them, before suddenly they slapped their tail on the air, making a surprisingly loud cracking noise and revealing a pair of small, silver hoop earrings that Emelie scrambled to catch before they fell to the ground. Ladybug smiled at the fact that her daughter’s Miraculous was a blend of her earrings and Chat Noir’s ring. Emelie grinned excitedly as she slipped the piercings into her ears.

“Awesome! Now, what’s my phrase to transform?” Emelie asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet. YeXiann scrunched their face up as they concentrated.

“Let’s make it…fins up!” They declared confidently.

“YeXiann, Fins Up!” Emelie called out. A moment later, YeXiann swirled into the earrings and a wave of golden energy washed over Emelie. Now transformed, Emelie’s clothes had been replaced with the skin-tight, mysterious spandex-like fabric that their super suits were made of. Over the body, the colour made a gradient from green to blue, with a golden fish scale pattern over the top, along with a golden chest plate of armour that was shaped and detailed to evoke a mermaid’s tail. Over her wrists and ankles were fins that looked part splayed hand-fan, part hang glider that Ladybug could only assume were for close combat and for slowing down a jump or fall from a great height. Finally done taking in the design of her suit, Ladybug looked up to see that Emelie’s hair had been swept back into a faux-hawk that lead into a fishtail braid, and instead of the usual domino mask covering her face, it was left uncovered.

Emelie looked down at herself, rotating her hands and tugging on the fins at her wrists, before looking up at both sets of her parents looking for approval. It didn’t take long for the older couple to explode into excited sounds.

“Honey, you look fantastic! This is such a creative design, I’m so proud of you!” The older Marinette gushed, running her hands over the finer details of the suit. A flash caught Ladybug’s attention, leading her to look over at the older Adrien to see that he was holding a camera.

“Baby’s first transformation! This one’s going in a scrapbook!” He cheered excitedly.

“Papa!” Emelie exclaimed with embarrassment, dropping her forehead into her palm. His daughter’s embarrassment only seemed to fuel him, giggling madly as he put the camera back into the bag with the grimoire.

“Relax, Fishcakes. It’s not going anywhere your friends can see.” He reassured with a smirk.

“I forgot about the sleepover! Maman, when we get home can you call tante La-La and tell her I need to stay home?” Emelie asked with a tired expression.

“I also think it’s best if we all stay in tonight. Even if Tommy has no clue why we’re all so emotional.”

“Maman! I did such a good job of not talking about him in front of young you! What if knowing about him changes something?” Emelie almost shouted. Plagg offered a shrug.

“Doesn’t really matter what you say to them, you’re about to wipe their memories anyway.”

“What?!” Ladybug exclaimed, hearing Chat Noir yelp beside her at the same time.

“Wait, please don’t wipe our memories. I want to remember who Ladybug is behind the mask. I want to remember Emelie! Please!” The young man pleaded, tears welling in his panic-stricken eyes. A sad expression washed over his older self as he looked down at him.

“I’m really sorry, but I don’t remember any of this, so a memory wipe has to happen in order for the loop to be successful. If she doesn’t wipe your memory it could compromise everything.” He apologised sympathetically. Emelie looked between the young versions and older versions of her parents, before crashing into Ladybug and Chat Noir with an emotional hug.

“Is it weird that I’ll miss you even though I’ll be with you?” She asked, half laughing.

“Maybe it’s a good thing our memories will be taken. I don’t think I’d be able to handle waiting so long to see you again, otherwise.” Ladybug joked back. Chat Noir stayed silent as he hugged back, but Ladybug could hear that his breathing was evening out. When they released the hug, he gave her shaky, but somewhat stoic nod before stepping back. Ladybug joined him, wrapping an arm around his waist in an attempt to comfort him. She felt him lean in to her touch before shifting his arm to hug around her shoulders. The pair looked back at Emelie and their future selves, who were now huddling together.

As Emelie began softly glowing, the sky grew crowded with multicoloured clouds and rumbled gently with thunder. The future Marinette and Adrien looked up at them and waved goodbye with sincere, grateful smiles, which the pair could only mirror back somewhat awkwardly. A raindrop on her cheek startled Ladybug, causing her to look up at the sky to see that it was now raining in stunning multicolour all over Paris, like light refracting through diamonds. The rain grew heavier and washed over her, leaving her with a calm, peaceful feeling. She glanced back down to be surprised that there wasn’t anybody there in front of her, which only confused her. Why was she expecting someone to be there? Suddenly, she felt a body at her side tense.

“LB, how did we get on this roof?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end! Of part 1 that is!
> 
> Thank you SO much for all the kind words that y'all have been leaving in the comment section. It's really driven me to push myself and finish the story, because if someone as sweet as you wants to see how it ends, you deserve it!
> 
> I've noticed some really good questions in the comments too, so I am thinking about adding a non-narrative epilogue where I just answer any questions that I feel weren't answered within the story itself. So, if you have any more questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll work on getting that Q&A out as soon as I can :)


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